Leaffan:
Individuals may very well be, but I’ve found that public announcements tend to be only in French. I remember this was the case at the Snow Festival I attended with my family back in January 2010.
Oooooooh yeah.
My daughter went to a summer program in Portland a couple years in a row - hence our familiarity with Portland (and a small, very nice ER in York one time when we were tooling down 95 and the girl suddenly Could. Not. Breathe :eek: [she got better quickly, which was a DAMN good thing as I was frantically trying to dial 911 while skidding to a stop on the shoulder]). We’d go to the greater Boston area the first day of the drive up, take a hotel for 2 nights, and make a day trip to Portland and back to drop her off / fetch her… having drive in Boston (including to Logan) a few memorable times, the outer suburbs were as close as we wanted to get!
We’ve learned pretty much every possible avoid-big-cities route between here and Boston as a result of those trips, but
I actually suggested Portland to people who were travelling. I’ve never flown there but I would imagine it’s a much more accessible airport than a behemoth like Logan. I think most are going either into Boston or Manchester. Arguably Portland is closest mileage-wise, but in perfect (hah!) conditions Boston and Manchester are shorter timewise because of the interstate. Plus people coming from California are not going to find direct flights into anywhere other than Logan. My husband’s parents are simply not coming regardless, because they’re not in great health, flying anywhere is exhausting, and they’d be in no shape to drive (or be driven) for 2 hours no matter how scenic.
Eonwe, I took a few of your suggested spots for the Bretton-to-Montreal drive and put 'em all on a Google Map route just to get a visual :).
No clue if the kids would go for a visit to the Vermont Teddy Bear factory but it’s definitely a thought (they DID specifically ask about visiting Ben and Jerry’s). Avoiding the two side jaunts (the teddy bear factory and the brewery in Greensboro) the route actually looks reasonably sane.
That would wind up dumping us back onto I-89 for the border crossing; Spiderman, where on earth did you cross that time you mentioned? Looks like we’d have to cross a bridge or causeway to get to anything west of the I-89 crossing (though I gather VT has a relatively large number of crossing choices). I’ll have to check beforehand if there’s a way to find out whether there are unusual delays at any one in particular.
Raft the St. Lawrence river. You raft right in Montreal. It’s a pretty amazing river (think big), but relatively mild as far as rafting goes. We’ve done it with 8 and 11 year old girls. It’s 3 hours, and pretty cool distraction from the typical city stuff.
VT-225/CA-225 - Get off I-89 @ next to last exit, take Vt-78 West over the (relatively short) bridge. You could turn right on Alburg Springs Rd (though I’ve never used that crossing) or continue on VT-78 to US-2. When US-2 turns left, go straight onto VT-225.
Since I’m coming from the other way (from Rouses Point), I go up Bay Rd & then go right on Line Rd. Line Rd is a 1¾ lane gravel road separating the two countries with an ‘impenetrable’ border of…corn stalks & trees. :rolleyes:
Even though it’s an extra 5-6 miles of driving, my experience is that it will be much faster because of the shorter line at customs.
Since you’re going that way (either what your map has or my diversion), it’s only 2 miles out of the way for the chocolatier that I recommended. Depending upon what time you get there, the (chocolate covered) blueberries were still on the bushes out back just a few hours earlier.
Thanks! I’ll check on the crossing hours (I know not all crossings are open all the time) on the day and play that by ear. Scenic > efficient in terms of driving, and if scenic = more efficient crossing, that’s a double benefit :).
We’ll be travelling in late June. I can’t remember when blueberries are in season but I can hope!
That’s probably a bit early.
We visited Montreal for a couple of days in 2015. Language-wise, pretty much everyone speaks English. The highway signs can be a bit tricky, as they are generally all in French (Ouest instead of West, etc.). Also, they will look at you funny if you offer a swipe credit card. If you have a chip credit card they will look at you funny when it requires a signature (all of the Canadian cards are chip and PIN). We ran into trouble on the Metro when the fare machine wouldn’t take any of our credit card or debit cards.
Our kids were 11 and 9 at the time. We enjoyed Mt. Royal and the Old City, but by far the highlight of the trip was Voiles en Voiles. It’s one of those climbing adventure parks. We stumbled across it down on the waterfront. We all had a fantastic time climbing and on the zip lines and it was very reasonably priced for an adventure park.
We crossed back into the US via 87 and it took us 2 hours, so I would take Spiderman’s advice!
The crossing I was referring to is 27x7 & gets “20 cars at peak crossing periods”. That’s nothing! I’ve waited in longer lines at Rouses Point, just two miles west, over the NY/VT border & that is considered “a small crossing mostly used by locals”
Alburg-Springs is 8-12, though googling shows either 12 noon or 12 midnight. I’d call to confirm.
Stay away from the I=89 one as it “is the busiest border crossing between Vermont and Canada and one of the largest between the countries. It is on a major truck corridor and is in the top 10 for total truck traffic. Long waits do occur at peak periods.”
Southern Quebec Provence is pancake flat & lots of cornfields. Taking the local roads will get you up close to some of the monstrous farm equipment in the fields.
Right around the corner from the chocolatier is Mont Saint-Grégoire & there’s a ropes/zipline park near the base if you’re looking for additional stops. (Sorry, if the weather is good we don’t have tons of time to go exploring & if it’s rainy, we don’t want to be exploring.) On the other side of the river, in town Manneken Pis is a good little restaurant.
I will say that the Ben and Jerry factory, while advertised as being in Burlington VT, is actually about an hour’s drive east of Burlington.
The St. Bernard de Lacolle border crossing is terrible. There are other border crossings a short distance east and west where lines will be much shorter.
Early strawberries may be in season at the end of your trip. Strawberries in Quebec are so red that Americans think they are overripe. They’re not.
You will encounter lots of construction in Montreal. Sorry, we’re rebuilding after decades of neglect and corruption.
Drivers in Quebec tend not to use turn signals and, at least in Montreal, have developed a bad habit of running red lights.
Note that you cannot turn right on red on the island of Montreal.
Suggestions for where to stay when in/near Montreal?
I don’t necessarily mean specific hotels, but for example if someone were staying in the DC area I’d suggest several highway exits that have a) a number of hotels nearish, and b) reasonable access to the Metro from the hotels.
So - something like that, which would be comparatively easy to get to by car when we arrive, and might be easy to get to a Park and Ride lot for the transit system.
I suggest you pick a hotel in the downtown core or Old Montreal.
Here’s the public transit map (STM for Societe de Transport de Montreal) STM | Société de transport de Montréal
The Orange and Green metro lines are the most frequent and run through the downtown core.
In Old Montreal you can take a bus or you can walk (if you don’t mind a hill or two) to the orange line.
You don’t want to be far enough outside the downtown core that you’re driving somewhere to take a bus or metro.
Coming from New Hampshire you’ll likely cross the Champlain or the Jacques Cartier bridge and be downtown.
[Stealth brag] Just got back from Quebec City - business trip last week [/Stealth brag]
I would add Paillard on Rue St-Jean, which has amazing viennoiseries and espresso. Mrs. D18 and I also bought our lunch there for a picnic that afternoon and the stuffed breads were quite nice.
For a bit of day trip, Ile d’Orleans is a short drive away, so you may enjoy that if you do up the city. As a tip, we were recommended the Panache Mobile, a food truck run by a very fine restaurant downtown, but it hadn’t opened for the season when we were there. (I don’t know if that is a thing elsewhere, but in Montreal and Quebec City, the fancy restaurants are branching out in food trucks.) Finally, we had the onion soup at L’Oncle Antoine, a pub in Old Quebec. Oh, and finally, finally, there is a really nice glass-blown workshop/boutique called Les Trois Corbeaux.
I’m happy to report the maple sugar pie at Aux Anciens Canadiens is as good as ever!
I just glanced over the thread again, and you were asking about language. I’m sorry to say I’m quite unilingual but am happy to say I have never had an issue with that fact in Quebec City. (Or Montreal, for that matter). Rest assured, you will be welcomed far more than the Americans were on this visit or this visit! 
ETA - Huh - I see you’re actually spending time in Montreal. Boy did I read that OP wrong! :smack:
Well, we will almost certanly visit Quebec City at some point as well :D. The friends we’re visiting are a bit northeast of there.
If you go to Quebec city, the area in front of the Chateau Frontenac overlooking the river is quite nice around sunrise. The downside is that you have to be up around sunrise.
Tutto gelato is a nice place on St Jean.
I’m told walking through the streets of the old city has a European feel.
It most certainly does not feel like anywhere I’ve ever been in North America.
300 year old buildings, cobblestone, artisans, French language: it’s astounding that I only live a few hundred kilometers away, well 600 or so, I’m guessing.
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Logistical question re driving: I’m assuming we’ll run into toll roads at times in Quebec. Do they work with the EZ-Pass system we have in the US? I’d hate to sail through a toll gate assuming we’d paid via EZ-Pass, and find out we hadn’t!!
Do they have any toll roads in Quebec? I’ve driven there a bit and never encountered any?
Anything else that makes it feel special to North Americans? I’m also curious about how Montreal feels compared to other large North America cities. I’m familiar with them but perhaps too much to notice what jumps at outsiders; Like a fish who doesn’t realize what wetness is.
Good news and bad news: Good news is that toll roads are nigh unheard of. If you pass by a toll road, you’ll know because you’ll stop. Bad news is the roads can be crappy and the driving has the same reputation.
There are no toll roads, only a couple of toll bridges.
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